Tiff over ‘explicit video’ led to former boxer’s murder; girlfriend, accomplices held

The deceased was allegedly in a relationship with Gupta, who was already also in a relationship for the last three years with Imran who runs a meat business in Bulandshahr. Nafees worked as Imran’s helper and driver.

Police arrested the girlfriend and her two accomplices for the alleged murder of former national-level boxer and gym trainer Jitendra Mann, 28, whose body was found at a flat in Greater Noida on January 12.

Mann had allegedly made am explicit video with his girlfriend which had reportedly caused a tiff between them, police said.

The arrested persons have been identified as Srishti Gupta (25), Imran (25) and Nafees (24), all residents of Bulandshahr.

The deceased was allegedly in a relationship with Gupta, who was allegedly also in a relationship for the last three years with Imran who runs a meat business in Bulandshahr. Nafees worked as Imran’s helper and driver.

Police said Gupta had gone to Mann’s flat on January 10 and killed him there when he refused to delete the explicit video.

Imran had reportedly given Gupta the gun which she used to kill Mann, while Nafees had carried two of her mobile phones in order to deceive police if they tracked her cellphone activity at the time of the murder, officials said.

The murder came to light after the police broke open the door of Mann’s rented flat in Greater Noida last Friday on the request of his cousin and neighbours due to the foul smell coming from the flat.

Mann’s friends at the gym, where he was working as a trainer, told police that Mann had been dating a girl who he had met in the gym in 2017.

Furthermore, the CCTV cameras at Mann’s society AVJ Heights in Greater Noida showed Gupta entering the society at around 12.30pm on January 10 and leaving at around 4.55pm the same day.

Mann’s call records showed that a large number of conversations took place between him and Gupta. “They used to talk 10-15 times a day and for long hours. We were confident that they were in a close relationship. Later in the investigation, we came to know that Mann had made Gupta’s video in a compromising position, which she wanted him to delete. However, he wasn’t ready to do that,” said Amit Kishor Shrivastava, circle officer, Greater Noida-1.

Police arrested the trio from Greater Noida after getting a tip-off that they were about to flee. After the arrest, police retrieved the messages between Gupta and Imran which contained the planning of the plot to kill Mann.

Through the messages, police came to know that Imran had given the .32 bore pistol to Gupta for the murder. “Imran was the mastermind behind this murder and he did it very cleverly. The duo discussed every possible way to remove the evidence. They even discussed how police investigations take place and how we track criminals with call details and locations,” added Shrivastava.

On the day of murder, Gupta gave both her mobile phones to Nafees who then went to Loni, Ghaziabad, so that the location of her phones would be traced there. Nafees, on the other hand, kept his cellphone switched off. Imran, who had two phones, kept one of his one phones switched off and went to Khurja with the other at the time of murder.

The murder was planned after Imran came to know about Gupta’s relationship with Mann. She told Imran that Mann was allegedly blackmailing her with the video. It was then decided that Gupta should kill the former boxer.

Imran and Gupta planned the murder on WhatsApp messenger to avoid trace of any contact through their phone call records. Imran gave Gupta a loaded handgun and instructed her delete the video from Mann’s phone after murdering him.

On January 10, Gupta allegedly went to Mann’s flat. However, Mann did not delete the video despite her requests. After some time, she shot Mann thrice as lied down on the bed. She then took his phone and wallet as there was a pen drive in it before fleeing his flat.

Police has recovered the .32 bore gun, empty cartridges, wallet and phone of the deceased, five mobile phones, one Innova car and Gupta’s clothes, which had blood stains. The trio has been booked for murder. Police is still looking for Mann’s mobile phone. The accused have told the police that they threw his phone in a gorge somewhere.